Blue cards now to be trialled – Law of unintended consequences


 
 
 
 
 
 

A media exclusive on Thursday has revealed that ‘blue cards’ are to be trialled now in football.

The Telegraph report (see below) says that the initiative will be officially announced tomorrow (Friday 9 February 2024).

A blue card is to be shown and will see players removed from the field for 10 minutes, if they commit a cynical foul or show dissent.

The new initiative is the ‘brain’ child of the game’s law-making body, the International Football Association Board (Ifab) and is inspired by Rugby Union…

If trials at lower levels of football are judged to be a success, then blue cards could end up introduced at the top level.

For me personally, this will end up falling into the category of the law of unintended consequences.

What will end up happening if the blue cards are introduced throughout football, is that certainly in the Premier League and I guess pretty much everywhere else, if a team goes down to 10 men for 1o minutes, then they will simply go into ultra defensive mode and waste as much time as possible until the 10 minutes have elapsed and they are back to 11 v 11. Meaning fans will see more boring defensive football for large parts of matches.

I think as well, this will be far too much open to interpretation and inconsistency. You could place a bet now for sure, as to which Premier League clubs would end up amongst the least punished if these blue cards were brought in.

They might have a use in a rubbish minority sport such as Rugby Union but for me, yet another terrible idea from the football authorities.

They have already made a total mess in terms of bringing in VAR. Something which was much needed BUT should be refined to be far better and smoother in its operation.

The Telegraph ‘exclusive’ report – 8 February 2024:

‘Blue cards to be introduced for football sin-bins

Exclusive: The new card will see players removed from the field for 10 minutes if they commit a cynical foul or show dissent

A blue card is to be introduced to football as part of sin-bin trials to be announced on Friday.

Telegraph Sport can reveal the game’s law-making body, the International Football Association Board (Ifab), has signed off on what would be the first new card to be used in the sport since the advent of yellow and red cards at the 1970 World Cup.

The revolutionary move will be announced by Ifab as part of sin-bin protocols that will see players removed from the field for 10 minutes if they commit a cynical foul or show dissent towards a match official.

The new protocol announced on Friday will limit the new card to fouls that prevent a promising attack plus dissent, as well as confirming a player should be shown a red card if they receive two blue cards during a match or a combination of yellow and blue.

Top-tier competitions will be excluded from initial testing in the professional game in case the protocols require further refinement, but elite trials could still begin as soon as the summer.

That may include in the FA Cup and Women’s FA Cup, with the Football Association considering volunteering next season’s competitions for testing.

But sin-bins will not be used in this summer’s European Championship or next term’s Champions League after the president of Uefa, Aleksander Ceferin, told Telegraph Sport last month he was completely opposed to them, adding: “It’s not football anymore.”

The European governing body nevertheless could be forced to introduce them if, as expected, trials led to them being added to the laws of the game.

Ifab, the board of which includes FA chief executive Mark Bullingham, first agreed in November to test the rugby-style measure in elite competitions such as the Premier League.

Sin-bins have worked successfully at tackling dissent for many years at grass roots and youth level.

As reported by Telegraph Sport, Ifab also approved a global trial of another rugby union rule that would see only team captains allowed to speak to the match referee about a decision.

The trials have been fast-tracked amid dire warnings from Ifab’s leaders about player behaviour, of which they said: “This might be the cancer that kills football.”

Ifab’s annual business meeting decided that sin-bins were key to clamping down on this, as well as on any foul that prevented a promising attack but did not meet the threshold for a red card.

One example given during the meeting was Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini’s shirt-pull on England’s Bukayo Saka in the final of Euro 2020, which only resulted in a yellow card.’